E3 2013: Microsoft

I’m not sure if I’m really the most qualified to be writing this but why the hell not? I’ve never been so much of a Xbox fan as a Sony fan (owning no Xboxes to date) but I thought that maybe a little outsider input might be nice to see every once and a while. Keep in mind there is some of my opinion in here too🙂.

Overall it was an explosive showing, filled with games both new to the system and older franchises that are getting a new instalment. There were a few little bumps, but that is the same with many showings of games.

Microsoft came out swinging showing a much loved franchise right out of the gate. The next instalment of Metal Gear Solid. Boasting real-time weather, various modes of transportation, and deeper stealth this game doesn’t look like it’ll disappoint MGS fans. Not knowing much of anything about the franchise myself, I’m going to guess that this will be most likely the final instalment of the story. Snake is looking pretty tired by now😛

To bring us back down to earth, Microsoft started to talk about what would happen with the Xbox 360. they announced that in light for the newer look of the Xbox One, they would be giving the 360 a newer look that would be ‘available today’. In reality it’ll probably be available tomorrow or in a couple of days, but they highlighted that the new model is quieter and smaller. Xbox Gold members had a reason to be excited as well, being able to download and keep two games per month in the coming months after July 1st until the launch of the Xbox One (later on this year). Two of the confirmed games to go free was Halo 3 and Assassin’s Creed II. I’m interested to see what they will have up for grabs next.

Little more digression from the bigger games continued with the announcement of World of Tanks coming to Xbox this summer. Another little game was announced, Max: Curse of the Brotherhood, made by Press Play and sequel to Max and the Magic Marker which didn’t look too bad but I thought it looked like a Steam game. Of course, though, there are many Indie games on the Xbox so this wasn’t too big of a surprise. Dark Souls 2was also shown through a small little trailer and looked good despite the fact that it’ll be available early next year.

We were then thrown right back into the Xbox One pool of new games starting with a new IP, Ryze: Son of Rome. Not my kind of game, but seeing that it’ll be a launch title, it could move a fair amount of consoles out the door. The action looked smooth and the details were really good. The take downs looked brutal and if there is a multi-player planned for this game it could be a really good buy.

Rare then came out and said they would be making Killer Instinct, a classic fighter game that looked like it was going to be fast paced…and to be honest, looked like any other fighting game I’ve seen (with the exception of character differences). But, yay, another Rare game! (?)

Sunset Overdrive was a stylized shooter that seemed like it was multi-player but instead of fighting zombies, you fight mutant-like monsters, which is nice, I’m personally tired of zombies. Insomniac is behind this game, and because I love Spyro I’ll defiantly keep an eye on it and am excited to see actual game-play. I’m kind of sad that this game isn’t coming to PS3/4 but there might be something down the road for us Sony fans. The art style looked unique and weapons seem like they will be highly customizable.

And now onto the game that made my jaw drop to the floor and stay there for the duration of the announcement. There was a small video going into how awesome McLaren is and how there are only two in the world, and this is where Microsoft got me. They had one of those two-in-the-world cars up on the stage. Holy ****. That car has to be expensive. They must have bribed the owner with a Xbox One to get that on stage….anyway…Forza Motorsport 5 now makes use of what they call a Drive-atar which will analyse how you drive and will apply those characteristics to when you are offline in order to create a personalized AI that will race for you. I really love this idea, kind of like rubber banding the ‘A’ button to grind those levels only in racing form. That being said, these AIs are applied to everyone so that you are never really racing against a true computer AI, but other’s personalized Driveatars. If I could call the trailer for this game anything, it would be ‘Car Porn’.

After a very small announcement of Minecraft coming to Xbox One, we were shown more about Quantum Break, which I think looks really interesting and awesome. The story looks compelling, and how you get to make choices to direct the story is a nice thing to add especially for replay value. Another small trailer of a game called D4, a murder mystery that looks like it’ll be for Kinect and resembles Borderland’s art style. Not much to say about this one, looks interesting but not sure if it’ll be the right choice to have it for Kinect.

Microsoft Game Studios’ Dave McCarthy announced Project Spark, a new game-creation that works with Kinect. A developer shouted out commands to see different textures, time of day, terrain and more. The game works with SmartGlass. Using a touch device you can bring any object in the world to life – the example shown gave a rock a sword and made it the game’s hero. The sword then attacked a bunch of bad guys in real-time. –vg247.com

This looks like what the Ouya is doing in the way of giving gamers the power to create their own worlds where others can play in. Project Spark looks like the boosted version of Minecraft with what looks like different building modes judging from the footage of other world that other people have created, there was even a Space Invaders like game.

Next, despite the technical difficulties regarding sound, Crimson Dragon looked good. Not sure how much this will appeal to gamers considering the original Panzer Dragoon titles seem to have a smaller fan-base, but it’ll be interesting to see how it interacts with Kinect.

Like I said before I’m not one for zombie games, but this game, Dead Rising 3, (from Vancouver, represent!) looks like it could be fun for those who are into the zombie craze. With no loading times, almost an endless world, and hundreds of weapon combinations this would be a good game. Again, not my cup of tea, but it looked nice and with the integrated Smart Glass I feel there will be a strong multiplayer with this one.

Witcher 3 and Battlefield 4 were up next, looking good on the Xbox One, Witcher 3 with the integrated Smart Glass and over 100 hours of game-play and Battlefield with 60FPS and more story action…hell a damn plane falls and crushes guys before you jump into the ocean and command a small boat!

Then the star of the show came out. The next gen Halo. The trailer looked awesome with Master Chief walking in a desert and running into a crazy awesome looking monster. I love the Halo trailers, but I have never played one, mostly because they are all on the Xbox and of course as I said before I’m more Sony orientated. Besides the trailer, there wasn’t much else other than a little talk about the TV series and that it will run in 60 FPS.

Finally there was Titanfall, another new IP that looks like a promising action shooter. Even though the whole time I was wishing they were Gundams instead of Titans, the concept is pretty cool.

Gameplay footage showed a lobby of soldiers in a dropship waiting for other players to join. Once the join counter expired the round started with all the soldiers jumping out a hatch to the streets below. Once there, the match began, as a squad ran across a grass knoll and though buildings. There was a countdown that showed the time until the player’s Titan mech was built and ready to pilot. -vg247.com

On the more technical side of things, Microsoft will be getting rid of Microsoft points and will be switching over to real currency, so you actually know how much you have in the bank. Yay! They also announced the price, which you have no doubt heard is going to be $499 which seems steep but considering inflation and the hardware being used is fairly reasonable, but we’ll have to see how it compares to the PS3.

All in all, everything looked beautiful, graphics are my thing and they really delivered on that. They also shut up a lot of the internet gaming community by showing game after game so that we can’t say ‘there won’t be any games for the Xbox One’.